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Yoon Seok-yeol, the People Power Party's presidential candidate, is leaving the party headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul, on the evening of the 3rd after discussing follow-up measures for a complete overhaul of the campaign committee.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy reporters Hyunju Lee, Boryeong Geum, and Juni Park] The unprecedented situation of the main opposition party's election campaign committee being at a standstill for the second day continues. Amid rising tension and a sense of crisis within the People Power Party, presidential candidate Yoon Seok-yeol, who must make a decision, canceled all his schedules on the 4th and remained out of public view.

Kim Jong-in, the general election campaign committee chairman who declared the dissolution of the campaign committee and is awaiting Yoon's acceptance, arrived at his office that morning and held a meeting with key staff including Lim Tae-hee, head of the general situation headquarters, and Kim Byung-min, spokesperson of the campaign committee. He pressured reporters by saying, "Yoon will probably make almost all decisions regarding the reorganization of the campaign committee today." When asked if the structure would move toward a unified general situation headquarters system, he replied, "There is a possibility." Under the current six-headquarters system devised by Yoon, authority is dispersed, making it difficult for Chairman Kim to exercise full power, but if the command system is unified, Kim's grip could become stronger.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

From Yoon's perspective, there seems to be significant concern about how far he can compromise with Chairman Kim. With about 60 days left until the election, the reality is that there is no ‘kingmaker’ to replace Kim, but at the same time, he cannot afford the criticism of being an ‘avatar’ dragged around by Kim, which is a dilemma.

Some speculate that Yoon might demand Kim, who has said he will remain in the campaign committee, to step down. Yoon has a strong incentive to demonstrate his decisiveness through this campaign committee reform plan. Even if it causes greater discord now, he wants to show directly that the campaign committee is led by the candidate. A political insider said, "If Kim Jong-in becomes a ‘retired king,’ it would not be good for the candidate." Yoon is expected to announce the newly reorganized campaign committee plan as early as that afternoon.

There is unrest inside and outside the party. To attend the meeting chaired by Director Lim that day, campaign committee members busily came and went at the party headquarters but remained tight-lipped. The meeting included Secretary-General Kwon Seong-dong, Public Relations Director Kim Eun-hye, Chief Spokesperson Lee Yang-su, Candidate Secretary Seo Il-jun, and Chief of Staff Lee Man-hee. Kwon, named as one of the so-called Yoon core associates (Yoonhaekgwan), said, "Since the candidate is in deep thought, we need to handle routine tasks, so we discussed that, but the direction of the campaign committee reorganization is solely the candidate’s decision," adding, "We have passed the stage of giving opinions on what to do."

Some lawmakers have demanded an emergency party meeting to discuss party reform measures. In response, Chief Spokesperson Lee said, "We had a long party meeting yesterday, but there is a sense that it was somewhat insufficient, and there is also the idea that we need to discuss it together with Party Leader Lee Jun-seok." Meanwhile, Party Leader Lee Jun-seok arrived early at the party leader’s office that day and stayed there. He told reporters that his position has not changed and that he has not received any messages from either candidate Yoon or Chairman Kim. Leader Lee held meetings with associates throughout the morning, firmly locking the office door.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.